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“Bidenomics” Driving Cost of Living Out of Reach
As the Biden administration continues its ongoing implosion, the only number that seems to be ticking in an upward direction is the rate of the cost of living. In fact, with the latest increase of 0.6 percent in January, “inflation” is now reported at an annual rate of 7.5 percent — the highest it has been since 1982.
As CNBC — which can certainly not be accused of having an anti-Biden agenda — reported:
Consumer prices surged more than expected over the past 12 months, indicating a worsening outlook for inflation and cementing the likelihood of substantial interest rate hikes this year.
The consumer price index for January, which measures the costs of dozens of everyday consumer goods, rose 7.5% compared with a year ago, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
That compared with Dow Jones estimates of 7.2% for the closely watched inflation gauge. It was the highest reading since February 1982.
Of course, this is another case of the mainstream media pretending they don’t know the correct definition of the word “inflation.” For their sake, this writer will try to clear up the confusion. Inflation is an increase in the supply of money caused by the government creating more and more money out of thin air. Inflation is not rising prices. Inflation is not caused by rising prices. Inflation causes prices to rise as a direct result of the law of supply and demand. When the government creates more money, prices rise to reflect the value of goods and services in proportion to a real percentage of the available money in the economy.
As president emeritus of The John Birch Society (the parent organization of The New American) John McManus stated in his booklet Dollars & Sense, to think that rising prices cause inflation is to think that wet sidewalks cause rain.
Furthermore, no one who has seen his grocery bills steadily outpace his income over the year that Biden has occupied the Oval Office finds this report by CNBC surprising. The costs of bread and milk have increased drastically during Biden’s tenure. So have fuel prices — as the proliferation of “I did that!” stickers placed on gas pumps by frustrated Americans all over the country testifies.
But as CNBC reported (read: admitted), it is not only food and fuel that have increasingly approached the unaffordable. While fuel prices have increased nearly 50 percent and groceries have increased at least seven percent (by the reckoning of the official bean counters), other metrics are up as well, including housing (up by 0.3 percent for the month and 4.4 percent annually). This is bad news for everyone living under Biden’s rule. Survival, after all, is often considered in terms of “food and shelter,” so what happens when the cost of those necessities continues to outstrip one’s income? The answer to that question is bleak. To put it in the form of a question, what is the opposite of survival?
This signals “a rapid cyclical acceleration in inflation” that likely means exponentially increasing prices moving forward. As CNBC reported:
That combination of higher food and housing prices “underlines our view that a rapid cyclical acceleration in inflation is underway and, with labor market conditions exceptionally tight, it is unlikely to abate any time soon,” wrote Andrew Hunter, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
CNBC attempted to blunt the tip of that point, reporting:
The burst in inflation has muted the sizable earnings growth workers have seen. Real average hourly earnings rose just 0.1% for the month, as the 0.7% monthly gain in wages was almost completely wiped out by the 0.6% inflation gain.
That is liberal newspeak for, “But wait, even with the catastrophic increase in the cost of living, at least Biden is creating jobs!” But the reality is that while businesses all over the country are hiring (and even fast-food jobs are paying $12-18 per hour), the actual increase in prices (caused by the Biden administration’s increase in the supply of money) is steadily outstripping those incomes.
Even in the face of irrefutable evidence of Biden’s failure, the mainstream media — which have run interference for him since even before his presidency — refuse to acknowledge that he just may be responsible for the current economic problem. After all, what correlation could there possibly be between pumping jillions of dollars of printed-on-demand money into the economy and the current trend in rising prices?
Mitchell Shaw
Mitchell Shaw is a freelance writer and public speaker who addresses a range of topics related to liberty and the U.S. Constitution. A strong privacy advocate, he was a privacy nerd before it was cool.
Published with Permission of thenewamerican.com